Commercial airbeds have been growing steadily in popularity. Many types of airbeds have been developed for a variety of applications over the years, ranging from simple and inexpensive airbeds that are convenient for temporary use (such as for house guests and on camping trips), home-use airbeds that replace conventional mattresses in the home, to highly sophisticated medical airbeds with special applications (such as preventing bedsores for immobile patients). With respect to home-use and medical airbeds, more and more consumers are turning to these types of airbeds for the flexibility in firmness that they offer, allowing consumers to adjust their mattresses to best suit their preferences.
An airbed system typically includes an air mattress that is connectable to a pumping system for inflating one or more air chambers within the air mattress. The level of pressure of the air within the air chambers provides a user with a corresponding feeling of firmness. If the air mattress has different zones corresponding to different air chambers within the air mattress, different parts of the air mattress can have different levels of firmness.
Foam mattresses are another type of mattress popular with consumers. Consumers generally have a choice between different levels of firmness for foam mattresses. The firmness of foam is based on the type of foam, the density of the foam, and the Indention Load Deflection (ILD) rating associated with the foam.